Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (R) flash the victory sign as Mashaie registers his candidacy at the Interior Ministry during the registration for Iran's upcoming presidential election on 14 June, in Tehran, Iran, on May 11.

DUBAI -- Iranian authorities have barred two potentially powerful and disruptive candidates from running in next month's presidential election, ensuring a contest largely among hardliners loyal to the clerical supreme leader.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a veteran companion of the Islamic Republic's founder, a former president and thought potentially sympathetic to reform, was denied a place on the ballot by the Guardian Council of clerics and jurists, state media said Tuesday.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close aide to outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was also barred. His hardline followers have jockeyed with those of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third consecutive term himself, said on Wednesday he would challenge the ban on Mashaie, calling him a "righteous person and beneficial for the country," according to the ISNA news agency.

"In my opinion there will be no problem with the Leader and I will take up this issue until the last moment with him," Ahmadinejad said. "I am hopeful the problem will be solved."

Supreme leader's website via EPA

A handout picture made available by Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's official website shows Ayatollah Khamenei delivering his Persian New Year message to the nation in Tehran, Iran, 20 March 2013.

Mashaie was quoted by Fars news agency as saying he considered his disqualification "unjust and I will pursue a resolution to it via the supreme leader."

His campaign office issued a statement calling for restraint by his followers.

"We ask all grassroots and spontaneous staff and supporters of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie to stay calm and organize their activities so that they do not provide the means for malice by enemies of the Islamic Revolution," it said.

But Eshaq Jahangiri, head of Rafsanjani's campaign, was quoted by INSA on Wednesday as saying the veteran politician would not object to the Guardian Council's decision.

"Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and his campaign as a whole entered the field on the basis of following the rule of law and morals, and will continue in this way as well," Jahangiri said.

Two of Rafsanjani's children have recently been imprisoned.

Most of the remaining eight men on the ballot for the first round on June 14 are seen as loyalists to Khamenei, who seems determined to avoid a repeat of the popular unrest that followed Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009.

The election comes at a time when Iran is engaged in bitter economic, diplomatic and military confrontations with the West, Israel and its Arab neighbors.

There is no clear frontrunner in a field that now includes Saeed Jalili, the chief negotiator for Iran's controversial nuclear program, Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei's foreign policy adviser, and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran.

With economic hardships increasing as a result of Western sanctions over the nuclear dispute, some Iranians have favored a change of tack and there is still substantial public support for reformist leaders who disputed their electoral defeat four years ago and are now under house arrest.

Khamenei could over-rule the Guardian Council and reinstate candidates but analysts said the moves at this stage, especially against Rafsanjani, appeared designed to nip protest in the bud.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

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Four years ago, Ahmadinejad was declared outright winner in the first round against three other candidates including the reformist Mirhossein Mousavi, sparking weeks of protests. Mousavi and another leader of the liberal "Green Movement," Mehdi Karoubi, have been under house arrest for over two years.

The other five approved candidates on the Interior Ministry list for this year’s election were: Mohsen Rezaie, a former head of the Revolutionary Guards; Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, another close aide to Khamenei; Hassan Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator close to Rafsanjani; Mohammad Gharazi, a former telecommunications minister; and Mohammad Reza Aref, the only clear reformist left on the list.

"All of the approved candidates are either loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei or are mostly irrelevant," said Alireza Nader, an analyst at RAND Corporation. "Khamenei may still overturn the decision, but Rafsanjani's disqualification shows that Khamenei is determined to wield all power. This appears to be a presidential selection rather than an election."

Related:

• Iran election primer: After Ahmadinejad, who will lead?
• Analysis: Iran's Ahmadinejad will fight 'like Scarface' for his political future
• Who's who in Iran's presidential race

Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters, file

A guard stands watch at Tehran's Evin Prison in 2006. A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists says that Iran has cracked down harshly on reporters ahead of the June presidential election. The group says most of those jailed are held at Evin, where at least three journalists have died in the past four years.

Iran has launched a campaign to intimidate and imprison journalists ahead of the June 14 presidential election, according to a new report from a New York-based advocacy group.

The wave of arrests began on Jan. 27, when authorities detained at least 14 journalists affiliated with reformist publications, according to the report, released Wednesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Another 23 journalists had been arrested by early March, it said.

An April 15 audit by the group found that at least 40 journalists were behind bars as part of what it called “the government’s continuing determination to silence independent coverage of public affairs.”

Michael Stuparyk / Toronto Star via Getty Images, f

Hossein Derakhshan, shown in Canada in 2006, was a blogger who tried to help fellow Iranians create their own blogs. He has been held at Tehran's Evin Prison since November 2008 and has been tortured and kept for long periods in solitary confinement.

Charges against them included insulting the president, spreading anti-Iranian propaganda, and in one case, “waging war against God.”

Intimidation of journalists -- including beatings, long periods in solitary confinement and denial of family visits and health care -- has had a chilling effect on the free flow of information, the report says, noting that government has blocked “millions” of websites.

Iran has also recently banned some reformist publications and arrested their leaders.

A particularly harsh crackdown on dissenting voices began in March, after Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi announced that 600 Iranian journalists were part of an anti-government network and that many were being arrested to "prevent the emergence of sedition prior to the elections," the report says.

Farideh Farhi, a University of Hawaii scholar who has written extensively about Iran, said the arrests are part of an effort to disrupt links between reporters inside Iran and their Farsi-speaking counterparts abroad, the report says.

The effort may stem from the 2009 election, when observers representing the candidates passed on reports of fraud to local reporters, who then relayed the information to colleagues outside the country, the report says, adding that those links are likely to be broken during the coming election.

Raheb Homavandi / Reuters, file

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, right, announced in March that 600 Iranian journalists were part of an anti-government network and that many were being arrested to "prevent the emergence of sedition prior to the elections."

 “The intent,” Farhi says in the report, “is to make sure that reporters inside Iran will hesitate to answer their phones or Skype when Persian-speaking reporters based outside of Iran call to figure out what's going on.”

There is evidence that the tactics have worked. Reporters inside Iran are careful what they say, even in telephone calls, and may be reluctant to write stories critical of the government.

The situation has gotten markedly worse under the rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the report said.

In 2004, the last full year of reformist President Mohammad Khatami’s term, the group said its annual prison census documented just one jailed journalist. In December 2009, after a disputed election returned Ahmadinejad to office, 23 imprisoned journalists were documented. Surveys since then have consistently shown 35 to 50 journalists behind bars at any given time, the report says.

Under Ahmadinejad’s rule, at least three journalists have died in prison and many more have been tortured, while at least 68 have fled into exile, the group said.

An attempt to get comments from Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, which must be contacted by email, was unsuccessful.

As of Wednesday night in Tehran's time zone, Iran’s state news agency had not mentioned the report.

The semi-official Fars News Agency, however, has previously reported on research by the Committee to Protect Journalists. A December article focused on the finding that Turkey had jailed more journalists, 49, than any other country that year. The article did not mention that the second-highest number of journalists, 45, were jailed in Iran.

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• Diplomat: US, Iran still 'a long way apart'
• Read more Iran coverage from NBC News

Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA

Former chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani, center, arrives at a conference in Tehran on Thursday where he announced his candidacy for the June presidential election. Rowhani is considered a moderate who could work with the West.

Hassan Rowhani, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator, announced on Thursday he would run for president - becoming the most moderate contender so far to bid to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a June election dominated by conservatives.

The 64-year-old was head of the powerful Supreme National Security Council under presidents Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, considered a master of realpolitik rather than an ideologue, and Mohammad Khatami, who pushed for wide-ranging social and political reforms.

Rowhani, a Muslim cleric, presided over talks with Britain, France and Germany that saw Iran agree to suspend uranium enrichment-related activities between 2003 and 2005.

He resigned after Ahmadinejad took office in August that year. The nuclear work was resumed and Rowhani was derided for being too accommodating in negotiations.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

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During Ahmadinejad's two terms in office, tensions with the West over Iran's nuclear program have worsened, with the United States and Europe imposing sanctions on its oil and banks over suspicions Tehran is seeking atomic arms, which it denies.

"We need a new management for the country but not based on quarrelling, inconsistency and eroding domestic capacity, but through unity, consensus and attracting honest and efficient people," Rowhani told a gathering of supporters on Thursday, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

A former Western ambassador to Iran who had dealings with Rowhani during the Khatami administration described him as "approachable and no-nonsense," likely to be "a calm, orthodox, efficient and straightforward servant ... and less a charismatic or an independent figure."

With nuclear policy directed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rather than the president, the election is not likely to produce any tangible policy shift there.

"My government will be one of prudence and hope and my message is about saving the economy, reviving ethics and interaction with the world," Rowhani said in a critique of Ahmadinejad's economic record.

Hooman Majd, a New York-based Iranian-American journalist and author, said Rowhani -- head of an Iranian think-tank, the Center for Strategic Research -- might attract some voters looking for change, without being radical enough to risk being banned from the election.

"Rowhani has been a loyal soldier of Khamenei and is not considered a threat to the system. I think it would be too much for the Guardian Council to disqualify someone like that," Majd said.

Khamenei's close advisers plan to put forward their own candidate, hoping to minimize the chances of the next president mounting challenges to the leader's authority, as they accuse Ahmadinejad of doing, especially during his second term.

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Diplomat: Iran, West still 'a long way apart' 

Yemeni Defense Ministry via EPA

Yemeni Interior Minister Abdul-Qater Qahtan (left) and senior security officials inspect seized Iranian-made weapons. Ties between Tehran and Sanaa were already strained over charges that Iran was working with separatists in the south and rebels in the north to further destabilize Yemen.

SANAA -- Yemen's president has asked his Iranian counterpart to stop backing armed groups on its soil after coastguards seized a consignment of missiles and rockets believed sent by the Islamic Republic, a government official said Thursday.

Iran has denied any connection to the weapons, found aboard a vessel off the coast on January 23 in an operation coordinated with the U.S. Navy.

But government official Abdel-Rashid Abdel Hafez said President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had contacted Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to demand Tehran stop smuggling in weapons. Hafez gave no further details of the message.

"This is the most dangerous arms shipment being smuggled to Yemen," Yemeni Deputy Interior Minister Abdel-Rahman Hanash told Reuters. "It contained anti-aircraft missiles, C4 high explosives materials which only a few countries in the Middle East possess."

Yemen, a majority Sunni Muslim country, said last week the vessel had been loaded in Iran.

Yemen has complained to the U.N. Security Council and asked for the weapons shipment to be investigated by the council's group of experts that monitors compliance with the Iran sanctions regime. It includes a ban on arms exports, U.N. special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said Thursday.

'Sophisticated weapons'
The council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which the United States, European Union and their allies suspect is at the heart of a weapons program. Iran rejects the allegation, saying the nuclear materials are wanted for peaceful purposes.

"The shipment contains weapons and some of the weapons are sophisticated weapons, surface-to-air missiles, for example. The government made a request to the sanctions committee for a full investigation," Benomar told reporters.

Yemeni Defense Ministry via EPA

The haul of Iranian-made weapons is thought to have been headed for rebels in Yemen.

"They (the sanctions committee) will establish the facts on what happened, where the shipment came from, who were the recipients, et cetera," he said.

The 15-member council is also discussing whether to issue a U.S.-drafted statement on the weapons shipment.

Officials in Washington have said the shipment was believed to have been from Shiite Muslim Iran and destined for insurgents, likely to be Shiite Houthis mainly based in northern Yemen.

Yemeni state television on Wednesday showed Interior Minister Abdul Qader Qahtan and National Security Board head Ali al-Ahmadi inspecting the weapons including Katyusha rockets, anti-aircraft Strella 1 and 2 missiles, RPG launchers, explosive materials and Iranian-made night-vision goggles.

Hanash said that while the investigation into the shipment was still under way, it was certain that the weapons were destined for an insurgent group. He did not name the group.

A source at Hadi's office said the arms were destined for Houthi rebels.

Rebels who once ruled
The discovery of the shipment will likely further sour ties between Tehran and Sanaa, already strained over charges that Iran was working with separatists in the south and Houthi rebels in the north to further destabilize Yemen as it tries to rebuild after two years of political upheaval.

Yemen said in July it had rounded up a spy ring led by a former commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, according to the state news agency Saba.

Iran has denied interfering in Yemen, a U.S. ally in its fight against al-Qaida militants.

The Houthi movement, named after the tribe of its leader, says it represents the claims of Zaydi Shiite Muslims who ruled Yemen for more than 1,000 years.

Houthis have survived repeated government attempts to crush them. They fought a brief war with Saudi Arabia in 2009 after their conflict with Yemeni forces spilled across the border.

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Ahmadinejad Official Website Han / EPA

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, right, greets Iranian President Ahmadinejad at the airport in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday.

News analysis

Published at 1:20 p.m. ET: CAIRO -- It’s being billed as a historic event, a thawing of icy relations between two regional heavyweights. Many in the West will regard Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Cairo as yet one more example of how Egypt has transformed from a staunch American ally to "not an ally or an enemy” as Barack Obama put it.

But it is actually more complex and nuanced than it might appear.

The two countries have been regional rivals since Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel and Iran overthrew the Shah -- coincidentally is buried in Cairo -- and imposed an Islamic government after its revolution in 1979.

Ahmadinejad is there to attend the multi-nation summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, so in a way the trip is no different than those he has made to the U.S. to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings -- hardly a sign of warming relations between Tehran and Washington.

A trip to Tehran in August by the then newly-elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was also to attend a multinational summit.

The countries have pledged further cooperation and they routinely condemn what they describe as Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

But there are more differences, both ideologically and politically, than similarities.

Ideological differences
Egypt is now led by Islamist political parties from the Sunni branch of Islam, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the ultra-conservative Nour party and more moderate ones like the Wasat party.

Iran, on the other hand, is an overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim country.

There are deep-rooted ideological differences that date back to the birth of Islam between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

The theological differences are vast, and although they are often downplayed in the politically-correct world of diplomats and politicians, there is still a deep-seated mistrust between the two religious doctrines across the Arab world.

Iran is home to many Sunni Muslims who complain of discrimination at the hands of the Shiite government.

In Egypt, the Shiite minority complains of similar societal discrimination at the hands of the largely Sunni society.

Some of the hardline Sunni groups have called on the Egyptian government to prevent Ahmadinejad from visiting religious sites during his visit.

And, in addition to the religious differences, there is also a vast political gulf between Iran and Egypt that is not likely to be overcome anytime soon or lead to full political and diplomatic cooperation.

The starkest difference between the countries is in the ongoing war in Syria.

Egypt's Islamist government and the Muslim Brotherhood support the revolution against Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

The Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood – which has been joined in its struggle to overthrow the Assad regime by more extremist Islamist groups -- is financed and armed by Sunni-Muslim countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Meanwhile, Iran is a staunch supporter of the Syrian government. Iranian officials have publicly expressed support for Assad, meeting with him and providing his embattled regime and military with money, technical assistance and, according to some reports, weapons.

Another area where the two countries have been at odds is the Persian Gulf. Countries there have large Shiite Muslim populations that complain of discrimination and Iran has consistently tried to highlight the plight of Shiites living in the Gulf region.

They point to the hypocrisy of the international community in turning a blind eye to the uprising in Bahrain, where a Sunni monarch rules a country that is predominantly Shiite.

Egypt, meanwhile, is standing behind the Gulf states, which are providing financial assistance to its faltering economy.

Ed Giles / Getty Images Contributor

Ahmadinejad speaks to the media flanked by two Sheikhs of the Al Azhar mosque during a press conference in Cairo Tuesday.

'We do not agree'
All of these issues came to surface during Ahmadinejad's short visit to Cairo, some of it an embarrassingly public way.

He was greeted only briefly by Morsi and the two held a short meeting at the airport, but there are no scheduled bilateral meetings scheduled during the summit.

Ahmadinejad also paid a visit to Al Azhar, the academic center of the Sunni Islamic world, where he met the most senior scholars of Sunni Islam to discuss Syria, Bahrain and other issues.

At an awkward press conference, the deputy head of Al Azhar, Sheikh Hassan el Shifai, was highlighting points of agreement between them when Ahmadinejad abruptly interrupted to say, “we did not agree, we did not agree.”

Afterward, Ahmadinejad went to pray at one of Cairo's most sacred mosques, Al Hussien. As he left, group of Salafist Sunni Muslims protested his visit and one threw a shoe at him.

So, while this historic visit was marked with all of the politically polite pleasantries and formalities, it’s highly unlikely either leader will be back in Iran or Egypt anytime soon -- unless it’s another multinational summit few people care about.

Related:

4 arrested in Egypt after shoe thrown at Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Read more from NBC News about Iran

Read more from NBC News about Egypt

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets people as he visits the Al-Hussein mosque, named after Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein ibn Ali, in old Cairo on Feb. 5, 2013. Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

CAIRO -- Egypt's security arrested four men who were protesting outside a Cairo mosque, where the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was praying.

The men, including a Syrian, belong to the ultra-conservative Sunni Salafist movement.

One man threw a shoe at Ahmadinejad, a Shiite, who was never in any danger.

The Al-Hussein Mosque is revered by Shiite Muslims, who are widely disliked by conservative Sunni Muslims, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi was previously a member of the Brotherhood.

Many Sunni Muslim groups have denounced the Iranian president’s visit to Cairo and have called on Egypt’s government to prevent Ahmadinejad from visiting any religious sites that are significant to Shiite Muslims.

Ahmadinejad met with Sunni Islam's most senior scholar at Al Azhar shortly before he went to pray at the Al-Hussein Mosque.

Jason Szenes / EPA

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York Wednesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad complained to the United Nations General Assembly in a speech Wednesday that his country was under the “continued threat” of military action by “uncivilized Zionists.”

Ahmadinejad, who is due to leave office next June after serving two four-year terms, was speaking amid growing tensions over claims Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, its belligerent language toward Israel and its support for Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Israeli leaders have been openly contemplating military action again Iranian nuclear facilities, dismissing Iran's claims and the idea of a diplomatic solution as a dead end.

Israel and many in the West cite Iran’s failure to cooperate fully with nuclear inspectors as an indication that it is seeking nuclear weapons.

Pugnacious Iranian president rips Israel, US

In his speech, Ahmadinejad complained that the world’s leading powers were forcing others to submit to their wishes.

“Continued threat by the uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation is a clear example of this bitter reality,” he said, according to a translator.

Ahmadinejad also asked people to imagine that wars from the Crusades to Iraq and Afghanistan, and other events and practices in history – such as slavery, colonial oppression, the current global financial crisis and the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. -- had not happened.

“Imagine how beautiful and pleasant our lives and how heavenly the history of mankind would have been,” he said.

He put the blame for much of the current problems on the leading countries and called for a new world order. “The current abysmal situation of the world and the bitter incidents of history are due mainly to the wrong management of the world and the self-proclaimed centers of power,” he said.

US: Iran missile test is 'pure fabrication'

A spokesman for the U.S. mission said the U.S. boycotted Ahmadinejad's speech because of his statements during the last few days -- and because the U.N. scheduled his speech on Yom Kippur.

"Over the past couple of days, we've seen Mr. Ahmadinejad once again use his trip to the U.N. not to address the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people but to instead spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel,” the spokesman said in a statement. “It's particularly unfortunate that Mr. Ahmadinejad will have the platform of the U.N. General Assembly on Yom Kippur, which is why the United States has decided not to attend.”

Canada's delegation also walked out.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

Launch slideshow

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama warned the General Assembly that the U.S. would not allow Iran to do develop nuclear weapons.

Obama: US will 'do what we must' to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons

“Make no mistake: A nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained. It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations, and the stability of the global economy. It risks triggering a nuclear-arms race in the region, and the unraveling of the non-proliferation treaty,” he said.

“That’s why a coalition of countries is holding the Iranian government accountable. And that’s why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” he added.

World's largest oil trader flouts Iran sanctions

In an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, a private investigator and former FBI agent who vanished in Iran five years ago.

He said he directed Iranian intelligence services two years ago to work with their counterparts in the U.S. to locate him.

"And if any help there is that I can bring to bear, I would be happy to do so," he said.

He also claimed never to have heard of Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who is imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran.

Hekmati was arrested while visiting his grandmother in Iran in August 2011, and his family has been using Ahmadinejad's visit to New York to plead for his release.

NBC News' Ian Johnston, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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